Us', Spelled 'You' and 'Me'
by King Oz
Summary: After coming home from the future, one guardian is having a little more trouble adjusting than the rest. YamaGoku, Completed


**Title:** 'Us', Spelled 'You' and 'Me'  
**Author/Artist:** King  
**Rating**: T or PG13 or AA14 (for a lot of coarse language and boys making out)  
**Warnings:** Gokudera (thoughts of violence, swearing, etc)  
**Word count**: 2000+

~*~

When I saw him standing there on my step, my first reaction was to yell at him for waking me at some god-forsaken hour of the morning and then slam the door in his idiotic face. I couldn't, however, when I saw the lost look in his eyes. I just sighed, opened my door a little wider and pulled him inside.

I couldn't help it – he looked like a puppy that had been abandoned in the rain. Lucky for him there was no actual rain that night, otherwise I would have made him mop up the mess regardless of his issues.

I knew from watching him in school and at practice that whatever was bothering him was affecting more than just his sleep. His grades were slipping even further and he was put on the bench indefinitely. While most of us had adjusted quickly when we returned to our time, Yamamoto slowly began to sink into depression.

Even Lawn-head was starting to notice the dark circles under his eyes.

Tonight was obviously one of the more difficult nights.

Yamamoto had been coming over in the middle of the night every couple of days for the last few weeks. The first time he came I refused to let him in and he went home, but when he showed up a second time, I took pity and told him to come in. All he wanted was to sleep in my bed, so I let him (with a lot of bitching) and got out my air mattress, falling asleep on the floor beside my bed.

Last week he grabbed me by my wrist before I could go to the closet and get the mattress and pulled me into the bed beside him, falling asleep wrapped around me. I lay awake there for a few hours in startled silence, but my bed had more than enough room and it wasn't like it was uncomfortable.

I studied him for a moment, following his lead into the kitchen instead of going straight for the bedroom like he usually did. Something was off about tonight.

Maybe the nightmares were back.

"Oi, it's four in the god damned morning," I whispered to him without any bite to the words. "I need sleep." He looked up at me and sighed, but made no move to say anything or get out of my kitchen. "Yamamoto, what's wrong?"

I had avoided that question for four weeks, telling myself first that I didn't care and then that I didn't want to get involved. It was more like I was afraid of opening the floodgates. I wasn't ready to deal with his problems, and I still wasn't but I knew if I didn't ask the idiot would probably resort to jumping off the roof again.

"Nothing," he started off saying like he usually did, but something made him stop. Maybe it was the stern look I was trying to give him. Did the idiot think I would waste my time asking the damn question if I didn't intend to get the answer out of him? He started fidgeting a little, picking up one of the mugs I had washed earlier in the evening, turning it in his hands. "Well, no I suppose it's not nothing. I've been having trouble sleeping." I bit back the retort that was trying to claw its way out of my throat, but that didn't stop me from thinking it. Thank you, Captain Obvious. I noticed him looking between the mug and me as though uncertain how to word his explanation.

"I've been having these… nightmares." He said the word like it was foreign to him. It probably was. He was so happy-go-lucky in his everyday life that his dreams were probably filled with fluffy puppies and hearts and shit like that. I nodded for him to continue and explain why I should care that he was finally showing signs of being a normal human being. Nightmares weren't enough to wake me up at all fucking hours of the early morning. "Ever since we came back from the future I can't stop thinking about them." He said 'them' like I was supposed to know what he was talking about. He noticed the confusion on my face and clarified: "My dad, Genkishi, Squalo." I think that was the softest I'd ever heard him say that shark-faced bastard's name.

Suddenly Yamamoto's behaviour for the last month and a bit made much more sense.

"Hey," I called softly, taking a small step closer to him (what can I say, it's a small kitchen). "What happened there isn't going to happen again." I put a hand on his twitching fingers, guiding him to put the mug back on the counter. This wasn't going to be easy. I remembered watching Genkishi get ripped apart. People like Yamamoto didn't deserve to have their innocence taken like that.

"Your dad is probably snoring like crazy and hasn't yet caught on that you've been sneaking out at night to sleep over here. Genkishi is out there somewhere living a life free of Byakuran. That loud asshole is probably off finding ways to burn the ears off deaf children." He smiled at that comment and I felt I was getting somewhere. "We defeated him then and we'll find him and make sure he doesn't try anything here. I won't let him hurt us again."

I looked down at our hands and realized mine were still on top of his even though the cup was no longer there. He turned his hands palm up and gently squeezed my fingertips. I could feel a small blush work its way up my neck. All of a sudden the general 'us' that encompassed the entire Vongola family sounded more like it only involved the people currently standing in my kitchen. I could feel my face heating up more.

"You need to be more considerate, idiot," I chastised him lightly. "You're having nightmares about your dad, but what are you going to do if he wakes up in the middle of the night and finds you gone? Have you ever thought about the heart attack he might have worrying about your sorry ass?" He looked a little guilty.

"I left a note on my door, just in case…" he trailed off and I knew even he didn't think the note would be enough to appease a worried father.

"Look." I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to look serious and probably failing since I was still blushing like a fucking schoolgirl over our hands. "If you're going to keep coming over here, just tell him." I let go of his hand for a moment to fish a small box out of my utensil drawer. "And I suppose you might as well have this."

He furrowed his brows in confusion and took the plain box from me. I focused on watching the box lid being pulled off so I wouldn't see his face when he pushed back the tissue paper. Even then, I could feel the surprise coming off his body. The idiot needed to stop wearing his heart on his sleeve if he wanted to become the natural-born hitman the Vongola needed.

"You made me a key?" I looked up then and practically rolled my eyes at the genuine happiness in his face.

"Yeah," I said, shrugging in what I hoped was a casual manner. "So you can stop waking me up and just let yourself in at night." He laughed and for a split second I thought it was at me, but the way his lips were turned up was more relaxed and relieved than anything else.

"Thank you," he whispered, pulling me into a tight hug. I let him this once, but only because he seemed to need it.

"Can we try sleeping?" I asked when the hug went on a little longer than necessary.

"Are you actually tired, though?" he asked me, pulling back with a grin on his face. "You answered the door on the first knock and you didn't look like you'd been tossing and turning all night." I would have protested that I was incredibly tired and that he didn't know what he was talking about, but he had a point. I was wide awake.

"So?"

"Gokudera, let's do something." I think my eyes bugged out at his request. Didn't he know it was almost five in the morning? Maybe I should remind him.

"It's five o'clock in the fucking morning, you idiot!" He just laughed again.

"So?"

"So…" I found myself stuttering, trying to stall until I figured out a good excuse. "So, we're supposed to be sleeping."

"Do you always do what you're _supposed_ to do?" He was grinning at me and I wondered at his ability to bounce back from depression. "Come on, don't be a wet blanket!"

"What do you expect us to do? Nothing is open."

"Let's just stay here and watch a movie or play a game." I rolled my eyes, but it sounded a lot better that lying in bed staring at the ceiling waiting to fall asleep.

"Fine. You go pick out a movie and I'll make us some tea or something." He left the kitchen when I started pulling out the teabags and the pot to boil the water.

I went through the process of making the tea almost unconsciously, my mind going blank while I followed the steps. I walked through to my small living room with the tray of tea and found that Yamamoto had settled in on the couch and had chosen some nonsense romance comedy that would definitely put me to sleep quickly. I sat down on the couch beside him, putting the tray on the table, pulling my feet up underneath my body.

The silence between us was comfortable but noticeable and eventually a toe began poking me from Yamamoto's side of the couch. I looked over at him, but his eyes were glued to the television. I was about to shake it off as my imagination when I caught sight of a small curve in his lips. Apparently, I wasn't the only one not paying any attention to the movie.

"Gokudera," he started, turning to me. "Let's do something else." There was something off about his look that I immediately dismissed. Maybe if I had thought about it a second I would have seen it coming.

"Like wh-?!" He interrupted my question by leaning over and pressing his lips to mine. I pushed him back. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled at him, but he was still grinning at me.

"I thought I was kissing you." Oh, he had definitely prepared for that question. But thinking that meant I had to think about the fact that maybe my rival for the position of right-hand man had been considering kissing me for more than just the last ten minutes. "Did you not like it?"

"I never said that!" was out of my mouth before I could blink. I really needed to work through my instinct to always go against anything Yamamoto said. It wasn't working in my favour tonight. "But if you're going to kiss me, do it properly." I unfolded my legs and leaned over, giving him a much better kiss. This time no one was trying to look at the television. Maybe Yamamoto wasn't the only one who had been considering those two kisses for more than the last ten minutes.

Not that I would admit to that just yet.

He seemed to enjoy the second kiss because I suddenly found myself on my back on the couch with my head pressed against the armrest at an uncomfortable angle with Yamamoto on top of me. I lifted my body to pull myself lower and put my head straight again but that only served to make the horny idiot above me moan. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it, but damn it he was heavy. The moan made me bold and I opened my lips a little to lick at his with my tongue.

No response.

For that matter, Yamamoto's hands had stopped moving as well.

What the fuck?

I opened my eyes to see what his problem was when I realized just why his body was so damned heavy. The idiot had fallen asleep on top of me. Thoughts of violence and screaming flitted in and out of my head but eventually I just sighed and got comfortable so he wouldn't suffocate me in my sleep. He needed sleep more than I needed to be molested by him anyways. That wouldn't stop me from giving him an earful in the morning about the etiquette of kissing.

I pressed one last kiss to the soft smile on his lips and closed my eyes.

~*~

This was for khrfest on LJ.

**Prompt**: VI-41. Gokudera/Yamamoto - sleepless night - "Gokudera, let's do something


End file.
